The incorporation of location and navigation technology, such as global positioning system (GPS) technology into mobile phones and similar wireless portable devices has created a class of “location-aware” devices that allow users to communicate with other users as well as determine or even view the location of other users on their own device. Such devices may be configured to display a regional map and the location of other users and/or places of interest on their device. This greatly enhances the social networking capability of such devices, beyond simple voice or text-based communication by allowing users to quickly find friends and associates and coordinate activities based on respective locations.
The advent of social network sites has encouraged the creation and sharing of a great deal of user-generated content. The widespread use of mobile phones, digital cameras and video recorders allows users to record and store a multitude of different events and experiences and share this content with family and friends. Such content is often created and stored in the form of web logs (“blogs”) or other similar online diaries or journals that are posted to an online site that is accessible to the public or to specific stets of users. A key feature of such online journals is that they can be accessed and commented on by other users. In general, present methods of generating, storing, and sharing user-generated content are based on the model of a static client computer which is at a fixed location and is used to create and store the journal entries. Mobile devices, such as mobile phones, cameras, tape recorders, video recorders and the like, are typically used only to capture content at a certain location. A user then typically downloads any such content to their personal computer or workstation to create a blog or journal entry. The increased processing, storage, and video/audio capture capabilities of mobile devices along with increased availability of popular application software, however, allows the use of such devices to be used directly in the creation and sharing of journal entries. However, present mobile device platforms do not effectively allow for creation and sharing of user-generated content or the incorporation of location information that is often available in modern telecommunication devices.
The incorporation of location display capability presents unique opportunities in the creation and sharing of user-generated content, such as notes, photographs, audio/video clips, and the like. The use of location information inherent in the location-aware mobile device can be used to create user-content that is relevant to groups of users or members of a network. The location information can also be used to transmit user generated content to specific members of a network, such as members who are in the general proximity of a user or a particular location.